Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Ben's arrangement of "Jesus loves me" in action

#1

Yesterday for a prayer and invitation at the end of service we did “Jesus loves me.” The guitar part was Ben’s arrangement. Lucky for me, I had a great young violinist (Delaney) playing with me, so I could just sit back and let her do the heavy lifting.

This week my house flooded, I had a cold, and we rescued a few animals (including a very cute racoon)… the point being we didn’t have time to work out the parts for the song much. We emailed our thoughts, played it twice in practice and away we went. As it turned out we could have used some more verses. We worked up 4 variations, but people kept coming up so we played probably 8 or 9 verses. I even tagged it to end one time and then up came another person so I wrapped back around. Delaney never missed a beat. She’s got a great combination of formal training and being able to play on the fly and I think she’s going to make much great music in the years to come.
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Myn6YSBaruk[/video]

#2

Good job on this one Mike. I enjoyed listening.

#3

Thanks Shawn! I gotta give the credit to Ben’s arrangement and Delaney’s violin. Those made it real easy for me.

I’ve been slowly working playing violin/fiddle (I used to play as a kid) and I am just getting past the scare the animals stage. Being around Delaney has been inspirational.

#4

Very nice. Which guitar are you playing?

I see you’re wearing your Sunday-go-to-meeting shorts and sandals! :laughing:

#5

Thanks! That guitar is the Martin GPC-PA3. More often than not, that’s what I play when I plug in.

You are correct, since it was a semi-formal Sunday, I wore a collared shirt and my “good” flip flops :smiley:
If I were king, I would think churches should have a sign saying “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem!”

#6

Well played Mike and clothes do not make the man . I have been doing that one for some time but failed to memorize it . I have had a few compliments but you do a much better job than I . I can also play Silent night in G but have not made it doing it without the tab . That will be my next lesson doing it blind folded . At least with out looking at the tab.

I might add it is the first time I have ever played finger style and I fail miserably with other tunes or songs. Both very deep songs and Ben has done a great job on both arrangements. I am also getting to where I won’t play anything but the GPC4A it is a great guitar .

#7

Thanks for the kind words. I also do Silent Night. The version I play is very simple, just picking the melody out of the chords. I either missed or forgot about Ben’s arrangement, so I probably ought to go take a look at it. It’s almost time (for me anyway) to break out the Christmas music and start getting ready. I enjoyed the collaborative “Joy to the world” last year, and I hope we do another Christmas song. If we keep at it in a decade we’ll have enough for a Christmas album.

#8

Fine job Mike. The young lady is pulling a sweet tone out of that violin. Now if you could just get her to learn “Lonesome Fiddle Blues”! :slight_smile:
You mentioned your house flooded, sorry to hear that. How bad was it? I know we had some flash flooding from storms around the state a few days ago is that what got you over your way?

#9

— Begin quote from "Bulldog"

I know we had some flash flooding from storms around the state a few days ago is that what got you over your way?

— End quote

This thread got revived a few days back but the original post was back in June and that’s when the flooding happened. We had over 9 inches in 4 or 5 hours. All in our house is back to better-than-it-was condition. Thanks for both the concern and the kind words. She is a very talented young lady. I don’t know if I mentioned it previously, but she is in her first year at college majoring in violin performance.

#10

Aw man I’ve got to start paying attention to the date on some of these posts. Well, glad everything is good your way now.

#11

Beautiful song!!!

Thank you for sharing!

:slight_smile: